10 Questions Poetry Majors Are Tired of Answering (via Bustle)

When I told my parents that I was going to study poetry in college, they didn't flinch. It wasn't a curve ball. They weren't keeping their fingers crossed that I'd go to medical school. Their dreams of having a financially stable daughter were not shattered. That's because my parents never had that dream for me. … Continue reading 10 Questions Poetry Majors Are Tired of Answering (via Bustle)

The lived experience of the spoken word poet (via Mail & Guardian)

In a piece entitled The Shifting Fortunes of a Performance Poet (published in the Chimurenga Chronic), Vonani Bila writes: “As the 1990s gave way to the 2000s, South African poetry became increasingly commodified. Themes and content became less political, more individual, and the form deregulated – not opened to experiment so much as abandoned.” Bila may as well … Continue reading The lived experience of the spoken word poet (via Mail & Guardian)

The Poet's List - Poet - Poetry News Spoken word Video - Javon Johnson - Button Poetry

(Video) Javon Johnson | The Debt

Additional Info "Exploring the complexities of being a college professor." #JavonJohnson #TheDebt #DPL #DaPoetryLounge #InkSlam2015 All Def Poetry is a new channel brought to you by Russell Simmons - a world-renowned champion of the spoken word art form. Fresh, riveting, and featuring some of the best voices in the genre, All Def Poetry brings you … Continue reading (Video) Javon Johnson | The Debt

C. K. Williams, Poet Who Tackled Moral Issues, Dies at 78 (via NY Times)

C. K. Williams, whose morally impassioned poems addressing war, poverty and climate change, as well as the imponderable mysteries of the psyche, won him a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award, died on Sunday at his home in Hopewell. N.J. He was 78. The cause was multiple myeloma, his wife, Catherine Mauger Williams, said. Mr. Williams … Continue reading C. K. Williams, Poet Who Tackled Moral Issues, Dies at 78 (via NY Times)

Poetry Is Her Power: Meet Crystal Valentine, NYC’s Youth Poet Laureate (via Daily Beast)

To watch the poem mentioned in this excerpt, click here. “To be woman and black is to be born knowing your beauty does not belong to you… Is to know you’re not desirable to your own kind,” Crystal Valentine thunders on the stage of the 2015 College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational. The force of the … Continue reading Poetry Is Her Power: Meet Crystal Valentine, NYC’s Youth Poet Laureate (via Daily Beast)

The Poet's List - Poet - Poetry News Spokenword Video - Rudy Francisco

(Video) Rudy Francisco | My Honest Poem

Additional Info This week's featured artist is RUDY FRANCISCO. Evolving from a partnership between the Greenway Arts Alliance and Da' Poetry Lounge (the nation's longest running open mic poetry event), InkSlam is LA's premiere spoken word festival. This year All Def Digital was there to capture the gifted poets that graced the stage. #AllDefPoetry #InkSlam2014 … Continue reading (Video) Rudy Francisco | My Honest Poem